Competition
by Blahsadfeguie
Summary: A new team of super-villains appear seemingly out of nowhere. What do they want with the Chaos Emeralds? And what do they have against Dr. Eggman? Sonic's not the only one intent on stopping them... A tale of bitter rivalry from before Sonic's time.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This story is mostly an experiment of mine. I've been doing the same things over and over for a long time now, and decided to try a change of pace. So, I came back to Fanfiction and decided to try my hand at writing again. Please let me know if you enjoy it through reviews (anonymous welcome). By the way, some of you may know me as Sophoclesdude; I decided to update my name to reflect my true self. I am the Random King!

Also: Sonic and related characters are property of Sega. I own none of them.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

_Initiating boot cycle...._

_Online._

"Whoa...where am I? And why do I feel like I've been asleep for a thousand years?"

"Don't play amnesiac! You have all the information stored in that chip of yours."

"Chip? You mean brain?"

"Quiet! Don't question me; I am your superior."

"Whatever."

The sun had long since sank behind the horizon, and the infamous Dr. Eggman sat in a cold, dimly lit room in the basement of his lab with only one other individual. He couldn't help but look at this individual with mixed feelings; a feeling of exceptional pride and one of timeless hatred. The individual stared back at him with his large, mechanical eyes, blinking in a very lifelike manner, and the brow curved in a way to suggest confusion.

"Now, you are going to follow my orders faithfully and flawlessly," said Eggman in a serious tone. "You were built--er, _born_ to serve me and no one else. Understood?"

"Well, I dunno..." said the creation in a voice that made the Doctor's whiskers puff up in disgust. "I have this weird feeling."

"What kind of weird feeling?" responded Eggman, half-intrigued. His other half was reliving the memories that he shared with this very figure over countless years and not liking it one bit.

"Well, it's like a part of me is telling me to be loyal, you know, like I should be listening to you. But another part is saying 'No way José!' and...it just makes me wanna get outta here, and as far from you as possible, you know what I-?"

"Enough, we're not interviewing for the Today show," interrupted Eggman. "Listen, you need to learn how to shut that part out. It's your sense of doubt. It makes you uncertain about things that you know, deep down, are right. If you overcome your doubt, you can do anything you set your mind to." He made a scowl that was barely visible in the darkness, even though he knew that his creation could see it easily with his extra-sensitive eyes. Eggman almost could not believe what he was saying, and _whom _he was saying it to.

"Huh. That sounds about right," realized the android, who was as naive as a newly-built robot would be, no matter how much knowledge was pumped into the central chip prior to activation. As even Eggman knew, true knowledge comes from experience. "But jeez, it's really late. I should be getting some shut-eye. You got a place I could crash?"

Dr. Eggman gave a sigh of relief. He had been worried that the many years he had spent on data collection was about to, once again, backfire against him horribly. Still, the bulk of the work had yet to be done. "Third door on your right," he said, motioning to a hallway. He pressed a button on a remote from his pocket, and a slightly-lighter-than-dim light lit the way. This reminded him of how tired he was at this point; he had stayed up almost half the night putting the finishing touches on the "plan to end all plans".

"Cool," said the android as he began to walk off, parting with a smirk and thumbs-up gesture that nearly set Eggman off. The old man was just too restless and cranky to put up with this any longer. The creation stepped into the light, which gleamed as well as slightly-lighter-than-dim light could off of his synthetic blue fur. Eggman couldn't relax until the rythmatic plop-plop of the android's bright red shoes faded out completely. He loosened up, putting his palm to his forehead and shaking his head.

"...Reminds me too much of Sonic."

* * *

Elsewhere, a dark figure was slipping out into the streets of Orange City. Solemn and subtle, it darted along the barren roadway aimlessly, searching for something less boring than just sleeping. But mostly, it was just thinking to itself.

"Orange City..." questioned the figure. "Why did those jokers trick me into coming here? There's nothing here but the Orange Academy for the Gifted. Sure, I might be interested if we ever attended school. But apparently 'gifted' does not include hedgehogs."

Indeed, he was as hedgehog as hedgehogs get in this world; aside from his shady nature and black fur, red streaks down the spines as if dyed. He probably would be asleep at this time, if he didn't feel so isolated from those others that barely qualify to be called "friends". Thus, there he was, looking for answers to questions that didn't even exist.

Shadow the Hedgehog finally became tired of running the plain, lifeless nighttime streets, so he decided to get a better view of the town by climbing onto the tallest building nearby, which just so happened to be the Academy. He hopped off of window awnings and small ledges with such accuracy that one may mistake him for a ninja. He stood on the roof, staring into the distance at the sea of clouds obstructing the stars from view, making the sky into a dark, dark gray nothingness.

He was just about to jump off again with a scoff, mocking the scenery for not being worth the effort of viewing it, when suddenly something interesting caught his eye. A small hole in the clouds revealed a large mass of metal and machinery. The clouds closed up again, rather quickly, before he could completely register its identity.

"What was that?" Shadow wondered out loud, for there was no one around to hear him anyway. "Some kind of floating metal building?"

His decided to follow this lead, hopping off of adjacent rooftops, if only for an excuse not to return.


	2. Chapter 2

**Just a warning: I can't update very much for the next month or so. I'm worrying about finishing school and all that. Please enjoy what I have so far!**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

It was a beautiful morning in Lantana Fields, a few kilometers south of Orange City. The birds sang to each other cheerily on what appeared to them as just another day of flying to and fro, in search of food and friends. This feeling subsided quickly, however, when two objects faster than wild animals could have ever thought possible zoomed past them. The first one, leaving a flash of blue, passed on the ground below, and left them with nothing but a curious stare. The second, a reddish yellow, passed through the air and was much larger, and the birds barely dodged in time.

"You'll have to do better than that, Tails!" called the blue one, as if it were easy to hear such a cry at high speeds. "No machine of yours can outrun me!"

"That's what you think, Sonic!" came a voice from the air-based speeder. "With 2 Chaos Emeralds in this thing, I've got a fighting chance!"

Now, if it were possible to slow down time, one would see that the one in front was actually a hedgehog, unnaturally fast and overwhelmingly confident; and rightly so, for he was the "fastest thing alive". The one in back was actually an airplane, built using cutting-edge advancements in physics and technology that could only be crafted by a mechanical genius. Strangely enough, this "mechanical genius" was none other than a youthful two-tailed fox, who was piloting the airplane which he affectionately called the Tornado II.

Also present at the event were two others: a red echidna, standing tall and tough, sporting a pair of boxing-style gloves that each had two spikes protruding from the knuckle area; and another hedgehog, pink and female, with a red dress and complimentary red boots. The echidna was crossing his arms, just waiting for Sonic the Hedgehog to goof up, while the girl hedgehog did just the opposite by cheering him on.

"Heh heh," chuckled Knuckles the Echidna, "if he keeps challenging vehicles like that, he's eventually going to lose. You can only go so fast on foot."

"Oh yeah?" responded Amy Rose hotly. "Sonic's faster than anything ever born or made ever. He's always going to win..." She watched the race with admiration, glaring dreamily at her supposed boyfriend.

"He's the fastest thing _alive_," continued Knuckles. "That means he can get beat by something not alive. AKA an airplane."

"Yeah but look at that _speed_," said Amy. "There's no way he can get outmatched by a mere machine. You gotta have soul."

"He's up against Tails. Piloting an upgraded Tornado. Equipped with two Chaos Emeralds. Trust me, the odds are slim at this point."

"I'm gonna make _you_ slim if you keep talking down about Sonic like that!" She pulled out a rather large Pikopiko hammer seemingly from out of nowhere and raised it over her head angrily, threatening to hit Knuckles with it. Even he would flinch at the thought of being under such a renowned mallet.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails were nearing the final stretch of their preplanned racing track. They were almost neck-and-neck, Sonic being slightly ahead. Tails was more nervous than he'd ever been before, but Sonic wasn't breaking a sweat.

"Come on, Tails, step it up!" shouted the hedgehog encouragingly.

_You haven't seen anything yet!_ thought Tails, a determined look on his face as his sweaty hand pulled a red lever in the front of the dashboard. As he did so, the two Chaos Emeralds shone brightly behind the glass panel in the front, and the plane accelerated ridiculously. Tails was pinned to the back of his seat, screaming from the excitement and whiplash as his machine zoomed ahead of Sonic, leaving him in a confused daze. Tails's laughter dissipated amongst the roar of the plane's engine and was not even heard by himself.

"I'm doing it!!" he shouted, pointless against the whoosh of the wind. "I'm beating Sonic! _I'm gonna WIN!!!!_"

He passed the finish line, marked by an improvised tree branch, and Sonic was nowhere to be seen. He slowly brought the engine to a halt with the aid of many parachutes and three separate seatbelts for his own protection. Almost a mile later, he slowed enough to safely come in for a landing. When the plane finally touched down and lost all its momentum, Tails climbed out, slightly dizzy and feeling very proud of himself. He rushed over to the now twin sets of Knuckles and Amy, jabbering almost unintelligibly and feeling a bit distant.

Hey, he may have an IQ of around 300, but he's still a kid.

"Didja see that?" he said rapidly, barely able to walk. "Didja see that, Knuckles, Amy? I did it, I beat him...I really did..."

"Beat who, hotshot?"

Sonic was laying with his back propped up against a tree, his hands relaxed behind his head, and one eye open at Tails as if he had just been sleeping. The fox's jaw dropped way open, and he almost forgot to keep his balance. "Wha-how-where-what did-how did you do that?" blundered Tails.

"I wasn't even running at my full speed you know. Trust me, you haven't seen my full speed. Not that anyone could; you'd miss it a hundred times over in a blink."

Amy was busy sticking out her tongue at Knuckles, who just about had it with Sonic's blatant exaggerations and Amy's annoying attitude. He raised his fist, but Sonic grabbed him by the arm just in time.

"Now now, Knuckles," said Sonic, "You wouldn't hit a girl, would you?"

Knuckles raised his other arm, ignoring Sonic, when Sonic grabbed his other arm, too.

"Let's not start a fight, now," said Sonic. "I mean, it's not like me winning a race is news."

Knuckles did a double take. Something was wrong with this picture, and it might have been the fact that the Sonic that grabbed his other arm was not the same Sonic that grabbed his first arm.

"What the heck?!" he exclaimed, looking back and forth. "I can barely handle _one_ cocky hedgehog, but _two_?!"

The Sonics looked at each other. "Hmm...someone's quite the fan," they each said thoughtfully. They released Knuckles, who was too dumbfounded to try going after Amy again. Tails's jaw, if possible, was even wider, and Amy was in a panic.

"Oh my God!" she cried. "Two Sonics?! I didn't know you had a twin brother!"

"I, um, don't," both Sonics said simultaneously. "Seriously, where did this guy come from?"

A tiny, familiar voice in one hedgehog's ear barked orders. "What are you doing, you mechanical moron?! I already told you there would be an impostor of you, and your job is to dispose of him! Now go!"

"Hey you! Impostor!" said the Sonic on the left. "I'm gonna teach you to steal my look!"

"_Your_ look?!" returned the other Sonic. "_You're_ the impostor!"

They glared hatefully at each other, unblinking. This reminded them of the first meeting with Shadow the Hedgehog... They gave each other some distance, and each one curled up to spin dash the other.

"Hold it!" shouted Knuckles angrily just as the two were about to collide, but he couldn't stop them in time. They hit, bounced off, and hit some more, like a couple of pinballs in a gravity well. One of them almost hit Tails, who jumped in the air and stayed there for a while, his two large tails propelling him like helicopter blades. Finally, Knuckles stepped in and caught one of the Sonic balls. "What do you think you're doing?!" he yelled as the Sonic he was holding unfurled again while his clone did the same. The red echidna crossed his arms and continued.

"Don't you realize that one of you may be the other you from the past? If you kill your past self, you'll have created some kind of time paradox throwing the entire space-time continuum out of whack?! For the sake of universal order _leave each other alone!!_"

Now, Knuckles was the recipient of the stares.

"Where did you hear all that, Knuckles...?" questioned Tails, half amazed at Knuckles's vocabulary.

"I saw it on a movie last night," he replied matter-of-factly. "You never know when you'll meet yourself from the future."

By this time, he could feel the unamusedness from everyone's stares piercing into his skull. He backed off wordlessly.

"But seriously," said Tails, "is fighting going to solve anything? I think you should have a race. No impostor can run as fast as the real Sonic!"

"A race! Duh!" The first Sonic smirked and facepalmed. "Why didn't I think of that before? You're the smart one as always, Tails my man!"

The other Sonic stared at the first, hardly believing it. This guy acted so much like him, he was like a mirror. "Whatever! You may look like me, sound like me, even act like me, but no one can run as fast as I can! Bring it on!"

* * *

"Just as I thought," chuckled Shadow, silently escaping from his expedition with his spoils, the yellow Chaos Emerald. "I knew I sensed an Emerald in there. Not like they had much use for it anyway..." He recalled taking it from a useless-looking machine and replacing it with a copy; the fake Emerald would only produce enough energy to fuel the machine for around two days, and by that time Shadow would be long gone.

It was a strange facility; there were many chambers and hallways that didn't seem to have a purpose. It reminded him of those large mansions that rich people buy and then never so much as look inside half the rooms in it. He did have to avoid some robotic guards, but there were very few. He swore he overheard some kind of conversation in one of the rooms, going somewhere along the lines of:

"Did you see those strange dudes wandering the city?"

"Yeah. I think they had something to do with the old man. And the Chaos Emeralds."

"Aha, our old buddy's come back for a visit, eh?"

"Well, you know what to do if the geezer tries to steal our thunder again..."

"Heh heh heh!"

Shadow didn't stick around much longer than that, but he had a pretty good idea who they were talking about.

As Shadow made his escape, a small figure darted almost noiselessly between bushes and foliage, taking great care not to be seen or heard.

_Make off with our Chaos Emerald, will ya? Well, you don't know who you're messing with...pal!_

_

* * *

_**Next chapter: Probably not for a few weeks at least. In the meantime, feedback would be appreciated!**

**Random fact: Firefox's spell check suggested "enchilada" for echidna...lwlz!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Remember when I said I wouldn't update very often? Well, it's more of an unpredictable schedule. I don't know when the updates will come, but they could be as much as a month.**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Dr. Eggman sat in a large, comfortable chair while the even larger monitor he was watching displayed the visual feeds from his creation's eyes. Using his headset, he was able to relay orders occasionally. As he watched his creation line up next to the real Sonic, he began to transmit some last-minute advice.

"Now, you and I both know that you can't run as fast as that Sonic," he said, "so you'll have to use your Chaos drive when you fall behind."

"What are you talking about?" came the android's reply. "I can beat this guy, hands-down!"

Dr. Eggman twiddled his mustache. "Poor Mirror Sonic," he muttered to himself. "I just can't convince him that he's a mechanoid, and not the real thing. I thought his programming would be enough..." He cursed himself for using such a powerful personality chip; he had been gathering data on his rival since practically day one, and finally he had enough to put it into a robot and use it against him. But now, it seemed to override all his other data chips, including the one that reminded Mirror that he was not the real Sonic. "I've gone much too far to review my strategy now," he added with a shake of his head.

"Just trust me on this," he spoke up to Mirror again. "When you fall behind, concentrate on drawing the energy from your Cha-... erm, energy within."

"Like that'll ever happen," came Mirror's ever-so-realistic voice.

"Ready..." came Tails's voice from the screen. "Set..."

"Ready to lose, copycat?" said the real Sonic.

"That's what you should be asking yourself, ya cheap rip-off!" replied Mirror.

"Go!!"

The two took off like twin rockets while Eggman's screen became too blurry even for Mirror's auto-focus.

* * *

Shadow stopped. Everyone gets that feeling that they're being watched, although Shadow had been trained to detect this with the accuracy of a radar. He listened carefully and heard a slight rustling. Without warning, he suddenly released a Chaos Spear into the bush nearby. A small, furry figure barely managed to roll out of the way before the bush burst into flames, leaving it exposed.

"Hey hey, watch it!" shouted a gruff voice from the angry furball. It uncurled itself to reveal a small tan squirrel, clutching an acorn close to his chest. "Can't a guy gather his nuts in peace?"

"Who are you and why are you following me?" said Shadow, already gathering his energy for another attack.

"You can call me, you see my name is, Greg," said the squirrel. "And I guess we just happen to be going in the same direction."

"Liar!" he said, narrowly missing Greg with his shot. The squirrel jumped back a few steps impulsively. "You've been following me ever since I left Orange City. I know what you want. You want your Chaos Emerald back. You were one of the ones in that metal fortress."

"What are you saying?" said Greg, a touch of nervousness in his voice. "I'm just storing food for the winter..."

"It's the middle of spring," replied Shadow impatiently.

Greg froze, realizing his mistake. He knew there was no other choice but to stand up and fight. "All right, wise guy, you wanna go? I'll give you a go!"

And, in a movement that surprised even Shadow, the squirrel began to grow and change shape. His fur shrank into scales, his bushy tail became long and reptilian, and large, powerful wings sprouted from his back. At the end, Shadow found himself staring at a large, black, and heavily-clawed dragon.

"And by the way," said the dragon, "my real name isn't Greg."

The dragon, whatever his name was, lunged at Shadow with his large claws. He felt himself clawing at air, however, before getting kicked roughly in the back. Shadow landed on the ground behind the fallen dragon. "Then what is your name? I want to know what I should write on the grave."

The dragon picked himself up quickly. "If you must know, it's Keith!" he shouted before suddenly hurling a storm of flame in his direction. "Not like you'll be around long enough to write this grave of yours! Which you'll be under anyway!"

When the flames parted enough to see through, Shadow was not there. "Worst comeback ever," came his voice from behind Keith, who turned around in time to get a kick to the chin. His head was thrown up and he practically soared for a few seconds, when he caught himself with his wings and dove at the dark hedgehog. Shadow almost forgot that dragons could fly, but he jumped on top of the giant reptile's back with precise timing.

_Time to take it to the next level, _thought Keith with a smirk as he transformed again. Shadow suddenly felt a great stinging pain as the many needles of a porcupine stuck into him. He carefully leaped off of Keith's back, pulling the blood-stained quills from his legs and chest and hurling them at his opponent like javelins, only for them to bounce off of a rigid turtle shell. Before he knew what was going on, Shadow was pounced upon by a thick-maned lion, who started swiping rapidly before being kicked off.

"A shapeshifter, eh?" panted Shadow. "Well I got some tricks of my own. CHAOS..." He drew energy from his Chaos Emerald. "CONTROL!"

From Keith's point of view, all Shadow did was disappear. "Huh, looks like he got chicken and left," stated Keith, until suddenly he felt an invisible blunt object strike him hard in the stomach, causing him to lose his breath. Before he hit the ground, a number of invisible hits within a minimal time frame left his ribcage without a single bone intact. He tried to say "uncle" but all that came out was a cough or two of blood. The world around him fading fast, he passed out as Shadow reappeared standing over him and tossing the Emerald up and down.

"Here lies Keith, the shapeshifting fool," said Shadow, envisioning a grave. "Rest in pieces."

Not one moment later, he felt a rush of wind on his left. He looked after it and saw the receding blue dot. "Sonic..." he sighed, just as another rush of wind overtook him on his right, turning into a second blue dot. He probably would not have given the second wind much thought if not for the signiture of Chaos energy coming from it. "Another Emerald?" he wondered, almost in disbelief. "This is just my day." And he sped off after the second Sonic.

* * *

_I can't believe this, he's ahead of me! _thought Mirror, staring incredulously at the "impostor" Sonic ahead of him by a longshot and losing him fast. Of course, he never thought to attribute this to his body being made half of metal, weighing him down, in addition to the plethora of other robotic flaws. _I can't lose to...a faker!_ His sheer determination triggered a potent process within his body, one that linked directly to the Chaos Emerald within. Suddenly, the overwhelming power seized his motor complex, and his legs were no longer touching the ground. Having no idea what was going on, he whizzed right by Sonic and remained in the lead.

Sonic stared. That just wasn't a natural way to run! _Where did this guy COME from? _he wondered. _Time to unleash my secret weapon!_ He closed his eyes, beginning to focus on nothing but the feel of his legs on the ground and the rush of the air he was slicing through. Just as Mirror had done, he began to administer a power of his own, which flowed through his entire body and pushed him to an even higher velocity. Chaos? Adrenaline? Hope? Doesn't matter. As long as it got him where he needed to go as fast as possible, Sonic never really cared what gave him that final jump to super-sonic speed.

"Yes! Yes! You're doing it!" came Dr. Eggman's voice, barely audible over the wind in Mirror's ear. "You're actually beating him! I can't believe it!"

"What's there not to believe?" replied Mirror. "I am Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Eggman shook his head, a wide grin on his face. Did he just create a robot that was faster than Sonic? He must be dreaming.

The pinch came when he saw Sonic speed ahead and take his rightful position as number 1 yet again, and nothing could have awakened Eggman better.

"WHAT?" said Eggman and Mirror simultaneously.

Sonic looked back at the fake hedgehog. He put his hands up to his face and stuck out his tongue in a taunt that outraged Mirror just as much as his creator, and then zoomed out of sight.

As if he didn't have enough reminders that this was the worst day ever, a blast of energy narrowly missed Mirror on the right. He looked behind himself, confused, and saw the rapidly approaching figure of Shadow.

"Hand over that Chaos Emerald of yours!" he shouted, aiming another Chaos Spear.

"Whoa, Shadow, calm down buddy!" said Mirror, hardly calming down himself. "I'm in the middle of a race!"

"Why bother?" said Shadow. "Everyone knows that no carbon copy such as yourself could ever beat the real thing!"

Mirror blinked. _Carbon copy such as myself...?_

"That's right," said Shadow, as if reading his mind. "You're a fake. That doctor is so predictable. He created a metallic clone of Sonic using data collected from observing the real Sonic, and did such a 'good' job of it that the robot doesn't even know it's just a copy. Face it, you are not the real Sonic."

Mirror began to slow down, thinking about what Shadow said. As he remembered what happened to him the past 24 hours, the evidence fell into place. The mixed feelings about Eggman; the fact that the doctor seemed to be leading him; the fact that he couldn't run as fast as he was used to. He was just a clone, an android built for Eggman's evil purposes. Built for evil...

"Yeah yeah, so what if it's true!" snapped Eggman. "I built you to look, act, be like the real thing. But not _think_ like the real thing! You should obey my bidding without question! Like in your programming! So, be a good bot and come on home for repairs."

Mirror had stopped and was slumping by a tree, his artificial brain struggling to process the facts. Shadow stopped as well and was leaning against the same tree, crossing his arms and listening to Eggman's voice, nearly silent but still audible, from Mirror's earpiece.

"You really screwed up, Doctor, you know that?" said Shadow.

"Go away, Shadow! This is a private line!" Eggman yelped. "What do you want the Emeralds for, anyway?"

"None of your business!" replied Shadow. "Just know that I have more use for them than you'll ever have. You might as well hand it over; this robot of yours doesn't deserve such power."

"Shut up! Both of you!" yelled Mirror, ripping the transmitter out of his ear and throwing it on the ground. Unable to think of anything else to say, he ran off on his own.

* * *

Sonic neared the home stretch, the impostor nowhere in sight. _I don't know what he was thinking, passing himself off as me, _he thought as he passed the finish line. He skidded to a stop as Tails and Amy went up to him.

"That was brilliant, Sonic!" praised Tails.

"You really showed him what-for!" commended Amy.

"It's not like you winning a race is news," mocked Knuckles. "I knew it was you all along."

"Yeah, he thought he was all that, but I socked it to him," bragged Sonic. "That copycat didn't know what hit him!"

"So..." started Tails. "Who do you think that was, anyway?"

"Beats me," said Sonic with a shrug. "All that matters is he probably feels really embarrassed right now."

* * *

"Ah...that Keith, he's always getting himself into hot water."

A rather short man stood next to the fallen lion-like figure of Keith. He wore a large, black coat, overlapping his tight-fitting blue pants. His dark reddish, bowled hair trapped the sunlight as he adjusted the short-rimmed glasses in front of his gray-blue eyes.

"N-Newton..." said Keith weakly. He struggled, trying to get to his feet. "Take me to the med room... I wanna heal up and transform back to my awesome self. I'm bored of this lion form already."

Newton chuckled. "Always worried about your looks..." he sighed. "You know, a bunch of broken ribs and blood doesn't exactly add to your 'handsomeness' either."

His eyes, whites, iris, and all, turned a deep blue as the ground underneath Keith opened up. A blue portal appeared in the empty space, and he fell through it. Newton looked around a bit, seeing no other being, and jumped in the portal himself.

As the portal slowly closed, Mirror stepped into the clearing that the two had been in earlier. He hesitated for a moment, and, seeing that his existance was pointless anyway, he jumped in before it was replaced with the grass and earth once more. Curiosity, it seems, is a trait that all beings possess.**  
**

* * *

**Sorry if it seems a little rushed at the end, but I was worried about finishing the chapter... (It's quite long.)  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**...Hey buddy. I got da goods. Things get a bit stranger in this chapter; blame my need for humor.**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

A tunnel. A long, winding tunnel. Such a trivial and vast tunnel that Mirror wasn't even sure of his own existence. He wasn't sure of anything.

_You're a fake...metallic clone...not the real Sonic..._

The echoing words circled around his soul, or whatever it was that robots have.

_I am just a clone...built by Dr. Eggman...to be evil..._

Putting Sonic's personality in an intentionally evil robot. This was all that he could think about.

_I have his soul. I have his will. I am Sonic. I'm not evil, and I'll make sure that he knows it!_

As if making a decision gave his body back its physical presence, he was ejected out of the tunnel, his feet landing perfectly on a metal floor.

"Be veeeeeeery careful. His figure is 'delicate'."

"Hardly."

A moan.

Mirror ducked quickly behind a metal box, peeking carefully as his short-term memory returned. He remembered jumping into a peculiar portal, confused and unsure what else to do. He saw three silhouettes, indiscernible in the faint light. He focused on them, and when he suddenly began to see them clearer, he cursed his auto-nightvision filters for reminding him of his mechanical origin.

The red-haired man known as Newton was assisting a girl with long, blue hair in carefully lifting Keith the lion into a medical wheeled bed.

"Aaargh, hurry up," moaned Keith. "You know I can't transform with broken bones."

"Keep your mane on," said Newton impatiently.

"We'll get you back to your old self in no-time!" came the cheery voice of the blue-haired girl. Mirror guessed it was some kind of vibrant dye.

They finally got him onto the bed and wheeled him down the corridor. Mirror tiptoed after them, making sure to keep quiet.

---

"Hehehehe!! This is brilliant!"

Dr. Eggman sat back happily in his chair, watching Mirror sneak down the hallway after the three through the robot's own eyes. "I knew the visual transmission implants would come in handy! But I never knew it would lead me into the depths of _their_ lair!" He rubbed his hands, grinning evilly. "Finally, after all these years, I'll figure out what they've been up to..."

---

Sonic held on tightly to the Tornado II, enjoying the rush of the wind coupled with the thrill of the altitude. Knuckles and Amy took back-seat to Tails, who piloted to Eggman's most recent egg-quarters, his base in the dormant volcano Mt. Heights. This mountain rose in the distance, the tallest of a range of smaller mountains that spanned the coastline a number of miles away from Orange City.

"You better be right about this, Sonic," grumbled the cross Knuckles. "I don't agree to come all the way out here for nothing."

"It's a hunch," said Sonic. "I know that Eggman's up to something. I'll bet he's the one responsible for the copycat!"

"When Sonic's right, Sonic's right," said Amy, staring dreamily at her hero. "He's always right. Isn't that right?"

Tails rolled his eyes, thankful that the girl couldn't see them.

"Yo, Tails, are we there yet?" Sonic yelled over the air resistance.

"Just about," called Tails. "We're coming in for a landing."

They circled around the mountain. Before long, Eggman's head appeared on Tails's screen. His mustache was too wide to fit in the frame, and Sonic couldn't help but utter a chuckle that was lost in the strong wind. "Sonic? Tails? What do YOU want?"

"We're just paying a visit," said Tails. "I hope you don't mind our company."

"I hope you crash, burn, and take a painfully long time to die, rodents!" came Eggman's crude reply as he pressed a button on his console. The transmission was severed at the same time that multiple missle launchers emerged from the surface of the mountain, ready to fire.

"Time to test out the defenses on this baby!" said Tails, pressing one of his own buttons. A green, transparent shield spawned around the Tornado II as hundreds of missles, each one sporting Eggman's classic likeness, all closed in on it. Sonic watched calmly, despite being the closest to the danger. Just as quickly as they had been launched, the missles exploded, and the shield remained intact.

"Go away!" hissed Eggman's red face, appearing on the screen once more.

"We mean no harm, Eggman," said Tails, calm as ever.

"How many times do I have to tell you brats, my name is Dr. Robotnik! It is, has always been, and always will be Robotnik!!" shouted the increasingly angry Dr. Eggman. "And that goes for you, too, Narrator!"

Well excuuuuuuse me, Princess.

"Hey, that's a good one," chuckled Sonic. "Princess Eggman!"

"That's Princess Rob--erm, DR. Robotnik to you, hedgehog!" Eggman's face was so red by now, it looked as though he would hardboil. "Now stop breaking the fourth wall!"

"You started it, Princess Eggman," laughed Tails. Amy was in stiches, and even Knuckles couldn't help but join in the laughter.

Princess Eggman stuttered for a bit, drawing a blank, and simply put his head in his hands. "I give up. Just come in..." He pressed another button to open a hangar in the side of the mountain big enough for a plane to land in. The Tornado did just this, and a couple of Eggman's robots came in immediately to greet them.

"We shall escort you," droned one robot once they had all climbed out of the plane, "directly to the room of Dr. Egg--hey!" The other robot nudged the first with its elbow. "Dr. Robotnik. You may not touch anything or wander into any other room. You are to remain under surveillance at all times during your visit with Prin--ow! I mean Dr. Robotnik."

Everyone nodded, Sonic while yawning. About ten other robots came in, a little cautious of the group, and led them into the hall.

"Remember, guys," whispered Sonic, "Even though you all hate his guts, don't cause any trouble."

The robot in the lead pressed a large button on the wall next to a closed metal door. It slowly opened with a mechanical whir, revealing a large many-screened control room, with Eggman seated in the middle. The robots walked Sonic, Tails, and Amy into the room, surrounded the exits, and closed the door.

"So..." began Eggman. He was about to correct the narrator yet again, but decided it was best to keep his cool. "What do you want, hedgehog?"

"Just asking a few questions," said Sonic.

"This better be quick," snapped Eggman. "I've got business to attend to, and I can't have any of you rascals wasting my precious time." He glanced at the group and noticed something a little off. "Wait a minute...weren't there four of you?"

Sonic looked around the room. There was Tails, Amy, and...

"Knuckles," said Sonic, slapping his forehead, "does that dude _ever_ listen?"

Dr. Eggman turned hastily to his monitors and pressed a few buttons. A fuzzy view of the hangar came on one of the screens, and a bored-looking Knuckles sat in the back seat of the Tornado. Eggman wiped the sweat from his brow.

"I guess he decided to stay behind and wait for us," shrugged Tails.

"Whatever. The fewer of you taking up my airspace, the better," said Eggman. "Now hurry up and ask me that question of yours before I change my mind."

"A few hours ago I met a Sonic impostor that looked and acted exactly like me," recalled Sonic. "We had a race, and I saw him practically hovering above the ground as he flew past me. Of course, I surpassed him again, and once I did he didn't even bother to finish the race."

"Get to the point!" yelled Eggman. "This isn't story time!"

"You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with this copy, would you?"

"Yeah right!" said Eggman, his patience quickly fading. "If this clone is as like you as you say he was, then it couldn't have been mine. You know I can't build robots as realistic as that!"

"Somehow, I have a hard time believing that," responded Sonic. "Who else could've done it?"

Before Eggman had a chance to respond, there was a distant explosion, followed by a loud alarm going off. Several of the monitors failed, leaving behind an array of static.

"Dr. Robotnik, sir!" declared one robot as it came into the room. "The Chaos Emerald has just been stolen, and the main power generator has been destroyed!"

"WHAT?!" shouted Eggman, pounding his fist on the armrest of his seat. "How could this be?! No one could have entered my lair undetected!" He glanced at the monitors in the hopes that one of the working ones would give him a clue, and, luckily for him, the one displaying the hangar still worked. Knuckles was still in the Tornado, sitting back as if asleep; however, upon looking at the picture closely he realized he had left the hangar door open. "Gah! I knew it was a bad idea to let you scoundrels in! Guards! Seal all the exits! Detain these three pests! Search every corner of the facility for the Emerald, and use lethal force if necessary!"

"Should we fight back, Sonic?" Tails asked nervously.

"We have no choice; Eggman's giving us the blame anyway!" said Sonic, backing away from the robots that were now circling them from all sides.

"Don't you come any closer!" threatened Amy, brandishing her hammer, making some of the robots flinch.

---

"Wow, Newton's really good with this speculation stuff," said the blue-haired girl, walking calmly through another part of the building and staring at the white Chaos Emerald that Keith was holding. "I never would've guessed that Ivo was hiding out here! And I really wasn't expecting him to have an Emerald!"

"Yeah yeah," mumbled Keith, now in perfect health. His current form was actually his normal human self. He had a blonde spiked-up hairstyle atop his head, barely hanging over the shades he wore almost all the time. His left hand was in the pocket of his denim vest, and in his right was the Emerald. "But all that Newton does is sit around and plan things. He needs to get up and _do _more, like me." The girl had stopped walking for a while, ignoring Keith, and was listening carefully. "What's up, Tina?"

"Someone's coming," she whispered. "Quick, do that shifting thing."

Keith concentrated for a moment as his skin changed from flesh to metal, his form shrinking, and when he was done, he looked just like one of Eggman's guard robots. He seized Tina violently by the arm as two other robots came down the hallway. The robots processed the sight of a fellow robot holding the Emerald and Tina. "I have found the Emerald and the thief," spoke Keith in a perfect robotic voice before the other bots could come to a conclusion. "Do not worry, she is harmless. I am taking her to the prision chamber."

"Let me go, you little freako!" cried Tina, pretending to struggle.

"Do you need assistance?" asked one guard.

"I have it covered," replied Keith.

"Very well then. I shall notify Dr. Robotnik that the crisis has been averted." The robots did an about face and marched towards the control room.

"Now let's get out of here," whispered Keith in his normal voice.

There was another explosion as part of the wall burst open. Among the rubble were various scattered robot parts. Jumping into the room was none other than an enraged Shadow.

"You!" he shouted. "You beat me to the Emerald! And now, you must suffer!"

"Oooh, is that the emo hedgehog you were telling me about?" said Tina.

"I never said he was emo," defended Keith, taking a step back.

"I don't have time to discuss my personality," said Shadow, "nor to question how you're still alive. You won't walk away from _this _one, fool!"

* * *

**Rawr. Another awkward ending. Or is it just me? Sorry.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I must say, I enjoy writing. I hope you enjoy my writing too!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

The air was riddled with ear-piercingly frequent sounds of metal banging around and robots exploding. Sonic and co have been up against Eggman's bots so many times, they make badnik-smashing into an art form. Eggman himself could only watch, horrified and infuriated, as his robots fell one by one at the hands of his nemeses like every battle before. Sonic and Tails even went so far as to play soccer with one bot's head, kicking it clean through the bodies of the others. If only he had been more prepared and not made the incredibly ignorant decision of letting them all in to mess up his plans yet again.

A door opened behind Dr. Eggman, and a robot walked in casually, unaware of the ruin in plain sight. "Sir. The thief has been apprehended and the Emerald is being returned as we speak."

"What? That was fast," Eggman acknowledged without turning around. "All right, all right, cut it out! You're all fine! I want to at least have some robots left to protect myself!"

"Protect yourself?" scoffed Sonic as he drop-kicked the head off another robot. "These toasters couldn't hold off a mouse!"

The robots began to fall back on Eggman's orders. Amy flattened one last guard for good measure, then put up her hammer triumphantly.

"Now," said Eggman, obviously having a bad day, "Get out of my sight! Never again shall I allow you goody-two-shoes...es... into my lab! Never!" He hesitated about the use of plural in the phrase "goody-two-shoes".

"Whatever," said Sonic with a shrug. "I was getting bored anyway. C'mon, guys."

Tails and Amy followed him out of the room as Eggman's guards stepped aside submissively.

"And by the way, I KNOW it's you," snapped Sonic before disappearing behind the closing door. "You're up to something. Whatever it is, we'll be ready. You can count on it!"

Eggman mumbled to himself as he turned to his monitors once more. Most of them were still showing nothing but static or blackness. "What is taking them so long?" wondered Eggman, the stress causing him to habitually twiddle with his mustache. "Those nincompoops should have the Emerald back in place by now!"

Even the monitor showing Mirror's point of view was static. Was this the cause of the lack of an Emerald, or perhaps because Mirror finally figured out how to cut the video feed? Or, did he get caught sneaking around in _her_ lair?

"Dr. Robotnik, sir!" cried one panicky robotic voice as its owner ran into the room. "There appears to be a scene in sector 4-C! Two humans and Shadow the Hedgehog are fighting over the Chaos Emerald!"

Eggman nearly pounded a dent in the control panel in front of him. "Why?! Why me, here, now?!" He turned to his controls and pressed a few buttons. "Can we at least get visual...?" He converted some back-up power to the camera in Sector 4-C. The monitor sprang to life and displayed a fuzzy image of Shadow facing Tina and...another Shadow. "N-no way! It's..._them!_"

---

"You go so far as to imitate me..." said one Shadow, very annoyed. "I'm not interested in your games!"

"Trust me, man, I ain't playing," said Keith, the other Shadow, making no effort to disguise his voice. "You're going down this time!" He curled up into a black hedgehog ball and started to charge up a spin. Holding the Chaos Emerald allowed him to draw in its energy and harness Chaos like the original Shadow would in one of his attacks.

Before Shadow had a chance to execute a counter strike, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He glanced quickly behind himself and noticed Tina standing there, holding up cheerfully a silver plate of warm, homemade chocolate chip cookies. "Cookie?" she offered, equipped with a smile as inviting as the cookies.

Despite the obvious distraction plan, Shadow felt very compelled to take one. Just before he got near enough to touch it, Keith rammed into his back with extreme force. Shadow fumbled over, falling facefirst into the platter and causing the snacks to scatter.

Tina looked very upset. "Oooh, Keith," she steamed, "Look what you did to my cookies!"

Shadow picked himself up quickly and was about to redeem himself when he realized a cookie was sticking out of his mouth. Oh, how delicious it was! As if it were made by the baker of all bakers! He bit down, releasing the warm, chocolatey goodness all throughout his taste buds. He couldn't help but be a victim of the incredible sensation, focused on nothing but the pureness of the flavor. He became so focused that he did not see Keith the rampaging bull barrel right into him. He was flung helplessly into the air and landed face down in the floor.

_What's going on? _he asked himself. _How is it that they are distracting me so easily with...cookies!_ He sprang up, outraged, and made a dash for Keith. He grabbed the bull by his horns and tossed him backwards, where he flew right into Tina and knocked them both over. The horn came within inches of Tina's heart before Keith changed back into his original form. Without giving the two time to get back to their feet, he dashed over again and landed a huge punch to Keith's jaw. Somewhere in the middle of the punch, however, Shadow noticed that Tina was missing. He turned behind just as she threw the first couple of cookies, each of which exploding on impact with Shadow's head and chest. She then launched a barrage of desserts like a madwoman, including muffins, donuts, and many more, each of which burst like a bomb all around the poor hedgehog. Just as Tina ran out of ammo, Keith came out from over her head as a gorilla and landed on top of him with a slight crunch.

"Well, that's a rap," said Keith, looking over the now unconscious and very battered and bruised Shadow. "Let's take him back so that Newton can 'analyze' him or whatever he does to captives."

"Ooh! Can I have his bracelet things?" said Tina, jumping up and down excitedly. "I bet they'd compliment my hair nicely!"

Keith looked at Shadow's bracelets, and then at Tina's hair. "I guess," he said indecisively. "He doesn't look like he'd miss 'em."

"Yay!" she cried, already stripping them from Shadow's wrists and putting them around her own. Keith, meanwhile, became a kangaroo and stuffed Shadow in his pouch. "Now, back to the castle!" she said, examining her arms blithely. "I wanna get to a mirror!"

"We'd be there sooner," said Keith, barely able to put up with Tina's jovial aura, "if you didn't interfere with Newton's gravity portal things, or whatever the heck he calls them."

"Whaaat, it's not like it's _my_ fault our fields are so incompatible," Tina defended. "You can blame Ivo for that one."

"Hehe, and he already got his punishment," sneered Keith, glancing at the Emerald.

The mysterious duo went into the hangar and saw the Tornado just taking off. The hangar door was closing. Tina jumped on Keith's back as he hopped out of there just in time.

---

As Dr. Eggman finished closing the hangar, he lowered his head and sighed. "There's no way I'll get that Emerald back now," he lamented, "now that it's in that witch Darkyear's hands..."

He got up out of his chair and walked into the hallway slowly, his arms folded behind his back. "Now I suppose I'll have to switch back to low-energy power... then figure a way out of this mess..."

His stomach growled. What a time to be hungry. He'd have to stop off at the kitchen after switching the power.

---

"W-what? Where am I?"

Mirror shook his head after awakening from a deep sleep. He sat up on the cold, hard stone floor and tried to make out his surroundings in the nearly nonexistent light. His vision focused as usual, and he registered sitting in a small cell not unlike a prison cell. He was somewhat disoriented and couldn't quite remember how he got here.

"Ahh, awake, I see?" said a distant feminine voice.

"Who's there? What is this place?" asked Mirror, trying to shake off his confusion.

"You should know by now, shouldn't you? You've been snooping around long enough to get a grasp, I imagine."

Piece by piece, he began to remember. A tall woman with jet-black hair caught him on the way to the med room, following the strangers. She had fired some kind of dark beam at him, and at that point he had blacked out.

"You're an interesting piece of work. One of Robotnik's latest. I can tell his handiwork a mile away."

"What are you going to do with me?" Mirror managed to squeak out.

"Oh, dissection, examination, the works. You won't feel a thing, trust me."

If Mirror had sweat glands, they would be at full speed right about now.

* * *

**The plot thickens... Well, it's at least getting to that thickening point where it just starts to thicken. You know what I'm talking about... _**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey, sorry to keep y'all waiting. I had a minor case of Writer's Block. But I got over it...I think.**

**

* * *

Chapter 6**

A door opened in the far side of the room. Mirror looked past the woman and noticed a kangaroo hopping into the dungeon, its pouch bulging with some irregular form.

"Ah, Keith, good to see you," said the woman. "I take it the mission went well?"

"You bet," chuckled Keith. "I even picked up a souvenir."

Mirror watched Keith the kangaroo leap over to the cell adjacent to his, and dump Shadow's unconscious body into it. When he looked at Keith again, the shapeshifter was already in his human form. Mirror stared with bewilderment.

"Another hedgehog?" said the woman, looking at Shadow closely. "This one's biological. I'm sure Newton will have fun with it."

The cell door slammed. Keith was about to leave the room again when he suddenly stopped as if remembering something. "Hey, Darkyear," Keith addressed the woman, "I just remembered, when me and Tina infiltrated Robotnik's lair, there was a group of brightly-colored animal/human dudes--"

"Anthropomorphics," corrected Darkyear.

"Whatever," continued Keith. "Anyway, I kinda wanted to investigate them. One of them looked a lot like these two captives. Like, exactly like that blue guy in there."

Darkyear began to think silently. Her thoughts ending in a smirk, she replied "There's no doubt that they have something to do with Robotnik. And if that's the case, then there's a high chance they have a Chaos Emerald or two as well. Have fun, but don't go crazy."

"You can count on that," finished Keith as he left the room.

_They're going to mess with Sonic and his friends! _thought Mirror angrily. _I have to do something...but what? What would Sonic do...?_

He noticed Darkyear had already left as well, perhaps to get some tools or something. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good news. He looked around his cell in search of anything that could help him. The small prison was well-built, solid, and empty; there would be no escape by normal means.

Just before he could give up hope, he heard a familiar, dark voice from the other cell. "Mirror Sonic. I know it's you in there."

"Shadow..." Mirror recognized. "We have to get out of here before that woman comes back."

"Heh. You say that like it's an impossible task. Just stick your arm out of the cage so I can reach it." Shadow's voice was cold and impatient.

Mirror did just that, trusting that Shadow knew exactly what to do. Not long after, Shadow's hand came out of the other cell and clasped it tightly. Mirror felt a strange tingling throughout his body. Or at least, his sensors were giving him weird vibes.

"Chaos..." Mirror's sensors were going crazy now. "CONTROL!"

There was a flash of light, and the two hedgehogs had disappeared without a trace.

* * *

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy sat around a circular table in the Milkshake Palace, a small bar and renowned hangout in Orange City. Each mammal had his/her own milkshake and was sipping it periodically. Occasionally, they received stares from some of the customers, but no one dared approach, let alone talk to them.

"So..." said Knuckles, putting down his milkshake, "if the 'thief' wasn't one of us, then who could it be?"

"Do you think it was Rouge?" questioned Sonic.

"No, they wouldn't have captured her so easily," said Tails. He took a drink of his milkshake, producing an air-sucking sound that usually indicated an empty cup.

"How did you finish that thing so quickly?" asked Sonic, who still had about half a cup.

"I love chocolate," replied Tails simply, as he probed the drink for trace amounts of remaining shake.

"Maybe it was Shadow..." wondered Knuckles aloud.

"He wouldn't be so easy to capture either, ya know," said Amy. "He could just warp on out of there once he got the Emerald."

"The Chaotix?" stated Tails thoughtfully.

"I could understand _them_ getting caught," snickered Knuckles. "But I don't think they'd be after something as important as a Chaos Emerald."

"Hey...where'd Sonic go?" Of course, Amy would be the first to notice Sonic missing. Not long after Amy showed her concern, however, Sonic returned to the table with another milkshake.

"Hey, keep your cool," Sonic assured her. "I was only picking up another shake for my buddy Tails. I think he deserves it for such an awesome job on that plane, eh bro?"

Tails gave a wide smile as Sonic handed him the large chocolate shake. "Thanks, Sonic!" he said, taking a huge drink and sighing from the heavenly taste. Sonic patted him on the back on the way to his seat, and Tails answered with a joyous and thankful face.

"What about me, Sonic?" pleaded Amy. "Don't I get some appreciation? I'm just as cute as Tails..."

Before Sonic could answer, the door of the restaurant burst open. Every customer and bartender stared at the two hedgehogs that had just entered; namely, Mirror and Shadow.

"See? I told you they would be here!" cried Mirror, pointing excitedly at Sonic's table.

"What the?" uttered Sonic, staring at the clone he had beat in the race the other day.

"Oh, hello Sonic, what are you doing with Shadow?" said Knuckles casually, before looking back at the real Sonic and becoming angry. He glared back at Mirror. "Wait a minute, I thought we drove you off!"

"He's not here to play games," Shadow cut in. "We've come to warn you..."

Shadow, and then Mirror, each explained their stories: Sonic and his gang learned about the strange team of "misfits", as Shadow called them, and how they tried to steal the Chaos Emerald from Eggman. Mirror also lamented about his being an android and how he vowed to get revenge on his creator.

"Well, that answers the thief question," said Knuckles.

"I _knew_ Eggman was behind this!" commented Sonic.

"But...a shapeshifter?" Amy looked around nervously. "He could be any one of us..."

"And, last I heard," continued Mirror, "They sent that very shapeshifter to 'investigate' you guys."

Everyone began looking at each other cautiously. Inadvertently, their gazes all landed on Tails, who was busy enjoying the last fourth of his shake. He looked up from his treat, eyes darting between the others, and shrunk down in his chair, becoming uneasy. "Why are you all looking at me like that...?"

"Beats me," said Sonic with a shrug. "Coincidence, I guess. Don't worry, we'd never suspect you of anything!"

"Now now, Sonic, that's not the way to think," said Shadow darkly. "Remember, anyone could be that idiot in disguise. Even Tails. Even...me."

They all looked at Shadow, whose devilish grin made everyone suspicious. "Heheh. Well. I'll just leave you oddballs to your junk food. Sayonara." He turned around and gave a half-hearted wave as he walked out of the Milkshake Palace.

"Do you think...?" began Amy.

"Nah, Shadow just likes pulling our legs," said Sonic and Mirror simultaneously. They exchanged glances.

Knuckles looked back and forth between the two. "All right, clone guy, we need to do something to you so we can tell the difference between you two."

"How about a paint job?" suggested Sonic.

"What? I like being blue!" defended Mirror.

"Maybe we can just give you a different shade of blue," said Tails. "Like aqua, or cyan, or navy."

"Or maybe a different color of shoes," said Amy. "I think you'd look hot in green!"

Mirror habitually took a nervous step back. "No, no, a different blue is fine. A darker shade sounds ok, I'm sure I could pull it off."

* * *

Dr. Eggman angrily took a bite of his hamburger as he watched Mirror Sonic fraternize with his rivals. "I can't believe this!" he said, pounding a fist on his control panel. "He's _soooo_ much like the real Sonic, he had to go and join those do-gooders and betray me, his creator, his master!" He pounded the metal again. By this time, he had created a dent just for this sort of occasion.

He began to reflect in his anger, and suddenly realization struck him. He began to see the bright side of things. "That's it!" he said with a snap. "Now that Mirror's alongside my archenemies, I get to watch their every move! And since they're going to be on the lookout for Darkyear's morons, that means they'll do all the work for me! All I have to do is sit back and watch...and I'll be one step ahead of _both_ of them!"

A robot approached him as he laughed evilly. "Dr. Robotnik, sir? Who are you talking to?"

Eggman stopped, now self-aware. He turned to his robot and punched it in the face. "Silence!" He reached back for his hamburger and took another bite.

* * *

**In case you were wondering, Shadow used the Chaos Emerald in Mirror's body to activate Chaos Control. I wanted to write that detail into the story but couldn't find a good place for it, then realized it doesn't really matter.**

**Anyway...see you next time!  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yay. Chapter 7.**

**

* * *

Chapter 7**

"Sorry to disappoint you, Newton, but apparently the hedgehogs have escaped." Darkyear glared at the man, almost as if it were his fault.

"Hmm." Newton examined the cages carefully. "The dark one...Shadow...he can use Chaos Control, can't he?"

"Yes," said Darkyear, beginning to think as well. "That's what I've been hearing. But last I checked, he didn't have an Emerald on him."

"And the android was powered by a Chaos Emerald, wasn't it?"

Darkyear rubbed her temples. "How could we let this happen...?"

"Don't worry, my dear, the Emeralds will be ours nonetheless. Robotnik already assured our victory, all those years ago."

Darkyear chuckled. "I still remember the look on his face when we betrayed him...hehehe!!"

---

Sonic, Tails, and Amy all walked alongside Mirror on the sidewalk, examining him from many angles. His synthetic fur was now covered in a fresh navy blue dye, and Sonic purchased him a brand-spanking new pair of not red, not green, but black shoes. Mirror looked very proud of his new appearance.

"Now I can be Sonic, and everyone's OK with it!" declared Mirror happily.

"It's too bad Knux had to go back to Angel Island," said the real Sonic, admiring Mirror as if he were looking into, well, a mirror. "He really should've seen this. Man, you are looking handsome!"

"Well, you know how he is," said Tails, trying to drop the subject of Sonic's 'handsome' looks. "He has to protect the Master Emerald."

"You're almost as dreamy as the real thing," cooed Amy, ignoring Tails. "That dark look makes you more...mysterious."

As everyone talked, they failed to pay attention to who may have been coming around the corner. This person bumped straight into Mirror.

"Hey! Watch where ya goin'!" came an angry, high-pitched voice. The weasel that had just collided Mirror (and was unable to knock him over due to his metallic weight) was now sitting on the concrete, rubbing his backside and struggling to his feet. "Honestly, you outsiders act like ya own the place."

"Oh, sorry buddy," said Mirror, bending over to help the mammal up. The weasel refused to grasp his hand and rose to his feet alone. "We've just been a little stressed out lately."

"Whateva," spat the weasel. "Just stay out mah way and no one gets hurt. Got that?" He started to walk away.

"Jeez, what a jerk," said Sonic, scratching his ear.

"Wait," Tails called after him. "Can we ask you a few questions?"

"Tails, just leave this g-"

"Yeah yeah, make it quick, kid, I ain't got all day." He crossed his arms and stared impatiently at the fox.

"Well, we were wondering if you knew anything about...Darkyear," Tails asked, calmly and innocently as ever.

"Darkyear, ay?" repeated the weasel. He seemed slightly interested all of a sudden. "Yeah, I heard of 'er. She n' her band of outlaws often come down here n' steal stuff, like from the jewelry store or somethin'. They always get away with it, 'cuz they somehow got these weird powers."

"Jewelry, eh?" said Sonic, edging into the conversation. "Like, what kind of jewelry?"

The weasel sighed angrily. "Well, they always go for certain gems. They're especially attracted to ones about yea big," he indicated a size about the width of his finger and thumb, "and they're shaped kinda like pentagons."

"Wait, like Chaos Emeralds?"

"Yeah yeah, that's what they were called. I really hate that girl. Hate 'er with a passion."

"Why exactly is that?" wondered Tails.

"Well, ya see, one day I was walkin' through the forest, and suddenly I come across this Emerald. I was all happy n' stuff, 'cuz I found somethin' rare and shiny that I could prob'ly sell for some big cash. But soon as I picked it up, that chick n' her gang were all over me. They threw all kindsa stuff at me, and let's just say I wasn't feelin' too good after that! They took the gem from me and just left me there...left me to crawl back to the city on mah own!" He began to pant heavily, clenching his fists from remembering the pain. He cleared his throat. "That's the longest speech I ever said."

"Oh, you poor thing," cried Amy.

Sonic thought for a moment. "We're after those freaks too," he explained. "There's no doubt that they're up to no good! You seem to know a lot about them; how'd you like to tag along, erm..."

"Just call me Cyril," responded the weasel. "And sure, if it means gettin' mah revenge on those suckers! Just leave it to me. I can sniff 'em out for ya."

---

Angel Island - a normally peaceful place, floating above the sea and hosting a small variety of calm flora and fauna. Yes, I said _floating above_. This is because of the more prominant feature of the island; the Master Emerald. Its power allows the island to hover, among other potential things.

"I'm bored!!" cried the young and annoying voice of Charmy Bee.

"Quiet!" Vector the crocodile shouted back at him. "Knuckles trusted us to look after the Master Emerald for a while, and we're not getting paid to whine!"

"We're not getting paid at all," Espio the chameleon reminded them. "We're doing this out of kindness, or friendship...or however he described it."

"I can't believe he talked us into it," grumbled Vector. "I don't know if I can stand this guy any longer."

"I wanna do something fun!" said Charmy, the screech of his voice making the crocodile tremble with anger. "When's Knuckles getting back?"

"How about right now?" Vector looked over to see the red echidna himself watching the Chaotix disdainfully. He gave a sigh of relief.

"I take it everything went well?" Knuckles asked.

"Not too bad," said Espio. "We didn't get a whole lot of action, unless you count the time me and Vector had to pull Charmy away from that Master Emerald."

"He was like a magnet," Vector said, nodding.

"It's just so shiny," added the bee, starting to approach the Emerald again with newfound awe. Espio grabbed him sternly by the foot as the youngster struggled. Eventually, Charmy gave up and sat unhappily on a small rock.

"Well, you guys can go now," said Knuckles, glancing at the Master Emerald, safe in its place. "Thanks for taking care of it for me."

"Don't mention it, pal," responded Vector as he started to walk away. He picked up Charmy, stuffing him under his arm and ignoring his yelps. He shook his head as Espio joined him. "Really. Don't mention it," he muttered inaudibly.

Knuckles smiled contently, watching them take their leave.

"Nice friends of yours."

Knuckles looked behind himself, startled at the feminine voice. He was greeted by long blue hair and a totally blue outfit. The girl had the Master Emerald in one arm and waved at him with the other.

"Hey! What-" Knuckles started to say, before the whole island began to rumble under their feet. He struggled to maintain his balance while Tina stood there perfectly still. "Put the Master Emerald back! Angel Island is starting to fall into the ocean!"

"No it's not," replied Tina calmly. "It's just a minor earthquake. Like a 3.0 on the Richter. It'll pass. Anyways, I was told by some ghost echidna that I had to take this big ol' jewel and move it to a safer temple. Then I get to guard it from now on, and you're free to go! Yay!"

Knuckles blinked a few times. "Um...all right," he said, bewildered.

"Cool! I'll just mosy on out of here, and you can bunker down while the earthquake settles." She skipped off, leaving Knuckles to make a few strained calculations in his rather slow mind.

"Wait! Hold on a minute!" yelled Knuckles in frustration. But when he chased after her, she somehow had already disappeared. "GRRRARGH!" he exploded. "I'll get you, mystery woman! And when I do, oh boy, you'll be nothing but a pile of ashes to be scattered about by the wind! You hear me?!? ASHES!!!"

The shout echoed across the sea as Angel Island made one of the largest tidal waves in history.

* * *

**Yay. End chapter 7.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Is it just me, or are these chapters getting shorter and shorter?**

**

* * *

Chapter 8**

"So," questioned Sonic, "they're just floating around in the sky somewhere?"

"Yeah," answered Cyril. "They never stay in the same spot, but they're always hoverin' up there, just outta sight." Everyone looked up into the sky, as if locating the castle were only that simple. "We gotta be careful though. If they see us approachin', they'll shoot us down for sure."

"Then we can't use the Tornado," lamented Tails. "And I really wanted to use that thing in a combat mission..."

"I bet if Tails flies one of us in, they won't spot us as long as we're careful," suggested Sonic.

"Yeah, they won't be expectin' a fox to fly up there," agreed Cyril. "It just might work..."

"But if they notice us, we'll be unprotected!" warned Tails.

"Leave it to me, buddy!" said Sonic. "I can knock just about any missle out of the sky."

"Ok, Sonic, you can go with Tails," said Cyril.

"Wait, what about me?" cut in Mirror. "I'm just as good as Sonic...right?"

"You're heavier," Tails pointed out.

"Argh...I never get to have any fun, all because I'm a robot..." Mirror turned away.

"Oh, don't feel bad," said Amy, running up to him and putting her hand on his shoulder. "You're a cute robot."

"Thanks, I guess."

"So what are you going to do from the ground?" asked Tails.

"Bah, I dunno," responded Cyril. "I was kinda hopin' ya might drop him off and come back for me."

Mirror brightened up, his optimism kicking in. "Hey, I bet I have some kind of jet pack or rocket shoes or something!" He examined his shoes and remembered that those were the ones the others had bought him. "Ok...maybe jet pack then?"

"Worth a shot," said Sonic with a shrug. "We'd have to split up, though."

Tails went around to Mirror's back and bent over to look closely. He ran a hand along his back, trying to feel for something. "Huh, I can barely tell you're a robot," he remarked. "This fur is so realistic...I couldn't find any compartments for jet packs or anything else even if I tried."

Mirror closed his eyes and concentrated. He stood there, doing absolutely nothing. The others watched curiously. Suddenly, a light double-barreled jetpack protruded from his back, startling everyone including Mirror himself. "Well..." he said, bemused, "I found it."

"Well, Cy," said Sonic, "since you know a lot more about these dudes, you can come with Mirror."

"Sure, sure," replied the weasel, "but don't call me Cy." He stopped for a moment, pondering the nickname. "Actually, go right ahead, I like it."

"Wait, you mean both Sonics get to go and I have to stay on the ground?!" shouted Amy. "It's no fair! I wanted to go with Sonic...or at least Mirror!"

"Sorry, Amy," said Sonic. "But even if you could come, this mission is just too dangerous. But hey, you can go wherever you want to and do whatever until we get back."

"I guess I'll go to the Milkshake Palace or something..." muttered Amy.

Sonic handed her a few rings. "Here, buy yourself a nice lunch. Stay out of trouble, now! We won't be long, I promise."

Amy took the rings gingerly. "Thanks, Sonic."

"Are we gonna get a move on or are ya gonna sweet-talk yer girlfriend all day?" yelled Cyril impatiently.

"Keep your tail on! Jeez!" Sonic rejoined the others as Tails began to wind up and Mirror started his engine. Surprisingly, the jet pack was rather silent. Tails and Mirror took off into the air, and each one picked up their respective passenger.

"Bye Sonic!" called Amy.

"See ya!" Sonic called back. "Be good, now!"

Safely hidden behind a building as a small rat, Keith watched the four take off. He stared for a while at Amy, who waved goodbye until the others were out of sight. Keith pulled out a walkie-talkie.

"Heads up, boss," Keith said into the device, "looks like they're sending a team to hunt us down. Four of 'em: two hedgehogs, a fox, and a weasel."

"Excellent," laughed a voice from the walkie-talkie. "We'll take care of them for sure."

"And what's more, they left one behind," he snickered. "A young girl. She looks...defenseless. Hehehe!"

"You can take care of her, Keith. We'll handle the rest."

"Gotcha." He put up the talkie and watched as Amy headed for the Palace with a sigh. Keith knew exactly how to deal with her...

---

Laughter echoed through the forest. Childish, hysterical laughter. Ever since she worked her magic, Tina couldn't help but bask in the humor of it. "Boys are just _so_ easy," she commented to herself between giggles. She looked at the Master Emerald again. It shimmered in the sunlight, displaying a beautiful reflection of the forest around her.

One shape in the reflection caught her eye, however. It was clearly not natural; a strange, almost humanoid shape, staring at her from one of the mirrored trees. She turned around, and the reflection's counterpart wasn't there. Shrugging it off, she turned again...

And there she saw it; or rather, _him_.

She didn't get much time to register the sight before his fist connected with her jaw. Hard. She dropped the Emerald and spun around until she crashed face-first into the dirt.

Knuckles promptly retrieved the Master Emerald and stared solemnly at Tina's fallen figure. "You think you can treat me like cannon fodder and get away with it?" he demanded angrily. "Well, as long as _I'm _around, no one takes the Master Emerald! Nobody!!" He shook a fist as he turned back toward Angel Island.

And right when he turned around, there was Tina once again, standing straight up and blocking the path.

"Not so fast," she said, holding up her hand.

"Get out of my way, woman, before I knock you into next week!" Knuckles threatened through clenched teeth.

"Oh, you wanna go?" Tina put up her dukes. "I can take you on 24/7!"

Knuckles laughed. "You? Yeah right. You couldn't fight your way out of a paper bag. Now out of my way." Knuckles tried to step around her, but Tina kept blocking the way. "You're serious aren't you?" he scoffed. "Have it your way - I'll see you in the hospital."

He set the Emerald down to the side while keeping it in sight. He immediately rushed at Tina, throwing a massive jab, but she was more than ready. From out of nowhere, she held up a large medieval shield, which completely blocked the punch. The vibrations reverberated through Knuckles's body like in a cartoon, and Tina drew a matching sword to swing at him. Knuckles caught the blade between his hands and kicked Tina in the stomach, while keeping hold of the sword and wrenching it from her hand. He tossed the sword aside, giving her enough time to come at him with an enormous battleaxe. The echidna barely stepped to the right in time and countered with a solid uppercut.

_Where is she getting all this stuff? _wondered Knuckles as he ducked under a steel flail limbo-style, one spike narrowly missing his nose. He raised his legs to dropkick her right in the chest, but she grabbed his legs before the blow could hit and flipped him backward. As he sprang to his feet, Tina whacked him with a large and fluffy pillow. The hit felt almost like lead as he flew into a tree. Now furious, Knuckles ripped the tree right out of the ground and swung it at her. She jumped, doing a few backflips and landing right on Knuckles's head.

"Hey, get off!" he shouted as Tina balanced perfectly. Knuckles grabbed the tree again and attempted to strike Tina from above, only to end up knocking himself out with the great trunk as she jumped off to the right. She grabbed the Emerald once more as Knuckles lay sprawled on the ground, out-cold.

"Boys are just _sooooo_ easy," Tina repeated as she resumed laughing and walked away.

* * *

**Zomg, Tina just pwnified Knuckles! When will the tide be turned? Stay tuned for Chappie 9! (That sounded dumb.)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry 'bout the wait! I'll get my net soon, I promise. In the meantime, enjoy.**

**

* * *

Chapter 9**

Dr. Eggman cleared his throat. He took another moment to examine the large army of advanced robotic soldiers lined up in front of him and awaiting his orders. Each robot, colored with a reddish black scheme, stood loyally and patiently with their sleek, high-performance metal bodies and packing the latest in laser-weapon and missle technology. His ranks numbered in the thousands, all built and set aside for a special occasion. If anything qualified as such an occasion, this was it.

"Listen up, Devil-Bots!" Eggman commanded towards the sea of diabolical, dark red eyes. "I have assembled you today for the elimination of the greatest threat since Sonic himself: Darkyear." He said her name through clenched teeth and with an unmistakable anger. "As we speak, her agents are gathering the seven Chaos Emeralds, no doubt in order to power their Subjugation Wave Cannon and seize control of the entire planet. Her forces are such that my robots wouldn't even stand a chance before they were blown to smithereens! Until now..." He smirked, looking over all of his hard work with pride. "You, my beautiful army, hidden away waiting for your chance to shine, will put a stop to her scheme so that the world can fall under only the most worthy ruler - me!"

The Devil-Bots continued to listen eagerly, and Dr. Eggman could practically feel the restlessness. "Now, already Sonic and his morons are attempting to infiltrate Darkyear's castle. This is a glorious opportunity! We'll let our enemies bash each other to near death, and as they weaken each other we'll step in and finish the job! And so, crazy as it sounds, we shall help Sonic get into their base. Phase 1 of my brilliant plan is to distract Darkyear so that they can enter undetected. And once they do, and get into each other's business, they'll war with each other as we sneak in and snatch everything right from under their noses!"

"You know the plan. Squad Alpha, you will begin a full attack on Darkyear's castle. The rest of you will stand by for further orders. Do not retreat! Keep her busy! Go, go, go!!" He was literally jumping up and down with the excitement, gesturing into the sky. A group of about a hundred robots took off into the clouds, thick smoke trailing from the thrusters on their feet.

---

Keith silently stalked Amy through the streets as she nervously walked to the restaurant. Keith could easily assume that she was worried about Sonic, and wishing that she was with him right now. Getting into the minds of other people is an easy task for shapeshifters like Keith, who are prompted to imitate others on a daily basis. It was a skill he was certainly proud of, and he appreciated it as he--

"Hey! Hello! Keith! Guess who?"

Keith contemptuously picked up his walkie-talkie at the sound of Tina's annoying voice. "Tina..." he grumbled, "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I completed my mission flawlessly and awesomely!"

"That's nice," said Keith sarcastically. Sarcasm was a quality that Tina usually either ignored or couldn't detect. "Can you leave me to my work..._please_?"

"Oh, oh, speaking of your work," continued Tina, "I got an idea! A really cool idea!"

Keith sighed. "What?"

"I got a neat persona for you to use, you know, to fool that girl!"

"I already have a plan..." Keith groaned.

"Listen to her," came Darkyear's voice. "Tina, strange as she may be, has some good ideas sometimes."

Keith was seething with anger now. He had almost forgotten that the walkie-talkie was a party line. "Fine...whatcha got?"

"He's the dude I stole the Master Emerald from. Basically, he's stubborn, gullible, and a fighter. But he's not all that good. Here's some pics."

The shapeshifter scratched his head, confused over how Tina could show him a picture over a walkie-talkie, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw none other than Tina with a handful of photos of a certain red echidna. Keith accepted them quizically, and as he looked up from examining them, Tina was gone just as suddenly.

"I hope you have fun!" said Tina through the talkie again, making Keith nearly drop it.

"Right...I'll take a shot." He took a moment to look at the photos, resisting asking questions about how she got such interesting angles, and created a mental image. Long story short, Knuckles stood in Keith's place.

"Oh yeah, I recorded a clip of his voice," said Tina, followed by a recording of Knuckles's voice: "Don't you realize that one of you may be the other you from the past? If you kill your past self, you'll have created some kind of time paradox throwing the entire space-time continuum out of whack?! For the sake of universal order _leave each other alone!!_"

"He sounds kinda like he knows what he's talking about..." commented Keith.

"Trust me, he didn't."

"Ok, but one more thing - where is this guy now? You know how awkward it is when the dude you're disguised as walks in on you in the middle of the act."

"Ah, Newton took him. He just _loves_ animals."

"Not quite, Tina." Newton's voice. "I just enjoy studying his type. Perhaps these studies will assist our efforts in the future."

Keith yawned. "All right, enough talk. I think we should all just get back to work." He already had Knuckles's voice down almost perfectly.

"Good idea," agreed Darkyear to finish the conversation.

---

"Right up ahead," Cyril pointed out.

"Gotcha," affirmed Mirror.

Both pairs zoomed ahead. In front of them, there was a large dark cloud, hanging low in the sky and looking rather out of place amongst the other clouds. As they approached it and entered the fog, their visibility decreased.

Tails squinted. "I don't see anything."

"Keep goin', it should be right in the middle of this cloud," Cyril answered.

Going deeper and deeper into the cloud, the group noticed an apparent structure floating in the center.

"All right," said Sonic, "time to split! You guys take the rear, we'll be in front. Look for an entrance."

"You got it, pal!" replied Mirror. He began to circle the castle with Cyril.

However, they didn't get much time before a missile whizzed straight past Tails's nose.

"Whoa!" cried the fox, trying to keep steady in the air. He and Sonic looked over at the missile and stared. Instead of being fired _from_ the castle, it was now headed straight for it! There was a small explosion as the missile crashed into the side of the structure. Sonic and Tails glanced behind them, trying to locate the projectile's origin. "Where did that come from?" Tails wondered.

His question was quickly answered as a flock of Dr. Eggman's Devil-Bots swarmed into the scene and began sending everything they had at Darkyear's castle, including missiles, laser beams, buzzsaws, you name it, they fired it. And Sonic and Tails were caught up in the middle of it all.

"Tails! We have to separate so we can dodge it!" yelled Sonic against the explosions and whooshing noises.

"Ok!" Tails carefully aimed, a laser barely missing his foot, and threw Sonic high into the sky. Now lighter, Tails was able to weave in and out of laser and missile blasts more easily. Sonic curled into a ball and bounced off of missles and other solid weapons. The friends continued their ballet of evading through the field of fire, finding it simpler than usual because nothing was aimed directly at them. Eventually, Tails caught Sonic again and they examined the attacking robots.

"Looks sorta like Eggman's work," stated Sonic.

"But why are they attacking the castle and not us?" asked Tails.

"Beats me, but it's definitely distracting them!" Sonic indicated a ton of cannons protruding from the building's surface and returning fire. The missiles from the cannon each split into four as soon as they were fired, and they homed in on the Devil-Bots. Debris and shrapnel scattered everywhere. "Let's hurry and find that entrance!"

Tails approached the castle. There were a few hangars for aircraft, but they figured that taking those would leave them easily detected, distraction or not. There was a ventilation shaft, but it was too solid to open. They finally went to the top of the castle where a metal, tubular chimney stood, currently inactive.

"Do you think we should use it, Sonic?" questioned Tails.

"I don't see how else we can get inside," said Sonic.

So, Tails dropped Sonic into the chimney first, then slid down it himself. It was just big enough for them to fit snugly. It was a long way down, but they eventually landed in a dark, extremely tight area.

"Whew," Tails panted, "I'm exhausted. I don't remember the last time I had to fly that long."

"Take a breather, little man," Sonic said, patting him on the back. "You deserve it." He felt around the enclosed space, which was completely metal and very warm. He also felt a grated hatch on the side of the chamber, which a small amount of light was coming through. He peered through it and looked out into a larger, unlit room. The hatch opened from Sonic's pressure, and he tumbled out onto a hard, cold floor.

"Sonic, are you all right?" whispered Tails.

"I'm fine," replied the hedgehog, caressing his sore backside. "I wonder what kind of room this is."

In the dim light, Sonic could make out a few countertops and tables. There were many cabinets on the walls.

Before he could jump to conclusions, he heard many fast-paced footsteps down the hall, approaching the room. Sonic quickly jumped back into the chamber and closed the hatch.

"Ow! You're on my tail!" screeched Tails.

"Shh!" quieted Sonic. "Sorry about your tail, but we need to keep quiet!"

The door to the room burst open and the light suddenly flickered on. Light flooded into the chamber through the grate, and both heroes pressed themselves against the side. They heard clinking of glass and metal, running water, and a constant thud-thud-thud of something against something else. Tails slowly peeked through the grate.

"I think we're in some sort of kitchen," he declared quietly. "A bunch of soldier-looking guys are preparing a meal, it looks like."

Sonic looked down. The light revealed that they were sitting on a metal grill, and below that was a pile of ashes.

"A kitchen..." Sonic repeated. "Then that must mean we're in an oven!"

"And what's a meal without an oven-baked slab of meat or something?"

"We gotta get outta here! But without getting caught?"

The soldiers continued to chop, wash, and gather ingredients. It was only a matter of time before they had to cook something...

* * *

**I dunno about you, but I'm hungry for some hedgehog-fox stew! Tune in next time to find out if we get our dinner!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 is in da haus! Lawl! Word up! ...Pay no attention to the dude who fails.**

**

* * *

Chapter 10**

Sitting glumly at a table by herself, a lone young girl sipped at her milkshake. Her mind was so full of confused worries and doubts that she could have been drinking a sludgeshake and she wouldn't be bothered to notice.

"That Sonic..." Amy muttered. "He's always avoiding me...never letting me do anything...it's like I'm just a bug to him." Her head drooped. She had stopped drinking her milkshake. As if that mattered. She didn't know what to do with herself...

"Hey, what's wrong?" Amy recognized Knuckles's voice. She looked up and saw him sitting across the table, looking mildly concerned.

"Oh, Knuckles, you wouldn't understand," Amy said harshly, turning her head away and crossing her arms.

"Did Sonic abandon you? For the umpteenth time?" He talked as if showing disgust for Sonic.

Amy nodded. Suddenly, she turned back, brightening up. "But he'll come back for me! He always does."

"Only to abandon you again," finished Knuckles. "Listen, Amy, can't you see Sonic doesn't like you? He only comes back because he doesn't want to hurt your feelings."

"But...that can't be true!" cried Amy. "He told me he cared for me."

"That was a lie," corrected Knuckles. "If Sonic, the coward, just told you what he really felt about you, you'd be off his chest for good. He hates you. The way you're always chasing after him, even tackling him... if I were him, I'd just say what I mean and be done with it."

Amy's eyes began to water. "It can't be... Sonic, lying to me this whole time?"

"Just put two and two together! What other explanation is there?"

She paused, looking for some excuse to redeem her boyfriend. As she failed to come up with anything, she didn't notice the tears streaming down her cheeks. "W-what should I d-d-do?" she sobbed, giving up.

Knuckles reached over, softly wiping the tears from her face. "I say you just forget that jerk Sonic. See how he likes it when you abandon him for once. Well, on second thought, he'd probably enjoy it at first... but when he realizes that you finally know the truth, the guilt will drive him crazy!"

Amy's sobs fizzled out. She looked to the sky. "I know just what to do now. I'll make Sonic regret his mistakes! I'll deal such an emotional blow it'll scar him for life!" She began to run to the door of the restaurant.

_Hehe, this is perfect! _thought Keith. _I've managed to turn Amy against Sonic. This is way better than just that boring trap-and-capture!_

Amy stopped for a second, then turned around and ran back to Keith, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Knuckles."

Amy ran off for real this time, leaving a flabbergasted Keith frozen in place, hand on his cheek.

* * *

As the robots and missles exploded around them, Cyril and Mirror examined the metal tube protruding from the roof of the castle. There seemed to be no other way in.

"Foo'," said Cyril, "There ain't no way I'm crawlin' down that."

"Well, you wanna bust open a grate and alert their security?" Mirror asked sarcastically.

"Looks like a freakin' chimney. Ya know, like where they burn stuff."

One Devil-Bot attempted to escape a missle by flying right over Mirror and Cyril's heads. The missle caught up to it and blew up as it reached the center, and a half of the robot's leg nearly crushed Cyril.

"Wah!" he shouted, hopping backwards. He fell over from losing his footing. "Ok, burning or not, we need shelter! Come on!" He hopped into the chimney. Mirror gave the battlefield one last look before following him.

* * *

Sonic and Tails didn't have long to think before a sound interrupted their train of thought. The word "sound" is a bit bland; more accurately, it was a scream and a series of clanging and banging. Followed by a thud, and then a loud SLAM. The latter two noises were actually Cyril and then Mirror falling into the oven. Cyril barely missed Sonic's foot, but Mirror landed clean on top of the weasel. And, given that the immense weight of a robot had just crushed his spine, Cyril let out a very audible yelp.

Now, who ever said this series of sounds went unheard? Sonic peered out of the hatch at several soldier-cooks looking all around the room, trying to figure out where that racket was coming from. A few of the men were looking directly at the oven! Sonic drew himself back in quick as a flash and looked down to address the new arrivals.

"What are you _doing_?" he whispered. "They might've found us out!"

"Beats gettin' rained on by missles," Cyril responded weakly.

"Shh!" Sonic hushed him.

"Sonic, do something!" Tails whimpered. "They're coming this way!"

Without thinking, Mirror aimed his arm out of the oven and at some empty boxes on the other side of the room. His fist transformed into a laser cannon, which fired a small, concentrated beam. The crates began to smolder, setting off a smoke alarm almost instantly. Every soldier panicked, frantically scrambling out of the kitchen with yells of "Fire!" and screams for dear life.

"Pansies," muttered Cyril.

"That was brilliant!" complimented Tails. "How did you know to do that?"

"I didn't..." Mirror trailed off, staring at his now-normal-again hand. "It just...happened."

Miles away, an evil scientist was in stitches...

"Nevermind that, are you gonna get offa me or not?" Cyril strained.

Sonic took another look and saw no one sticking around. "It's clear."

The hatch swung open and the four heroes stepped out. Cyril got to his feet and stretched.

"You ok, buddy?" Mirror asked. "Sorry about the landing."

"Yeah yeah," replied Cyril. "Don't worry about me. Let's just go before someone comes back."

* * *

"A fire? That's odd."

Newton studied the readings on his monitors. "A fire drove out every cook. What a shame. Now I'll have to deal with the intruders on an empty stomach."

He snapped his fingers. A small portal appeared on the desk, and through it emerged a granola bar. Newton reached for it and unwrapped it casually.

"Thank goodness for the snack fridge."

Chomp.

* * *

Sonic and Mirror rushed through the hallways, past every well-hidden security camera, Tails and Cyril trying with difficulty to catch up.

"The Chaos Emeralds should be around here somewhere," stated. "Most likely near the center of the ship."

"Right on," commented Sonic. "You got a map or something?"

"Better," said Tails, taking out a small device. "The Chaos Radar, tuned in to the unique signiture of Chaos energy. This will point them out."

Cyril peeked at the radar. "Looks like a hunka junk, if ya ask me."

Tails, ignoring him, pressed a button, and the radar promptly lit up.

"Whoa!" Tails stopped, his nose practically pressed against the screen. "Guys! Stop!"

Sonic and Mirror skidded to a halt. "What's up?" they each said.

"There's an Emerald not ten feet from where I'm standing!"

"Lemme take a look," said Sonic as he and his duplicate approached the radar.

"It's coming closer!" Tails gasped. The radar was pinging at an increasing rate. As the two hedgehogs stood on either side of him, the radar sounded like it was about to selfdestruct. "Now it's right next to..." He looked to his left at Mirror. "You?" he questioned, stepping back. "It's coming from you!"

"Me?" Mirror looked down at himself. "What..."

And then he remembered. The race. Shadow. Escaping from the cell. There was no doubt about it: Mirror had a Chaos Emerald inside him! "Man...why am I always the last to realize these things...?"

"Most likely because robots are slow. Especially those of Dr. Robotnik."

Everyone froze. That voice was much more sophisticated that any of the four. Each one turned around slowly...and found no one there.

"There's no need to be afraid."

That startled them. They turned to the front again and saw Newton standing before them. Before they could even enter a fighting pose, they were suddenly surrounded by a cube of blue transparent energy.

"What's this?" shouted Sonic, pounding on the impressively solid wall.

"It is your prison," Newton continued. "Or at least, until we transfer you to--"

The alarm interrupted him. And not just a smoke alarm, but the loud one that sounds when something more serious happens.

"Newton..." whined a voice from Newton's walkie-talkie. "That cute echidna just escaped."

Newton face-palmed. "That Tina, so unpredictably incompetent."

"Echidna?" repeated Tails. "Knuckles!"

"He was captured?" questioned Sonic. "When?"

"Tina knocked him out while stealing the Master Emerald," Newton declared. "I should go take care of it. You four be good little mammals and stay put." He raised his communicator. "Tina, please let me handle it. You can run off and play with your dolls or something."

"Yay!" was the only response.

_How could a girl like that get Knuckles? _wondered Sonic.

As confusion swept the team, Newton's eyes began to glow blue once more as a portal appeared underneath him. The radar impetuously began to bleep and blip as Newton disappeared into the floor.

"Guys," started Tails, "I think he's using Chaos energy! But I've never seen it used like this before."

"Hmm...very suspicious," said Sonic thoughtfully.

"What? What's up?" Tails perked up.

"I don't know. But something tells me these guys and Eggman go way back."

And Tails picked up on what Sonic was talking about. Eggman had sent that robot attack as a distraction, allowing them to infiltrate. And Newton mentioned Dr. "Robotnik"'s name with such contempt. "But Sonic, how do we escape this one?"

Mirror was desperately trying to break free of his cube. Cyril had already given up and sat slumped against the side. Sonic looked at his friends and decided that getting out of here was not going to be easy. "Well, Tails, it looks like it's up to Knuckles now..."

* * *

**Oh, something's up...**

**Hehehe.  
**


End file.
